Costume designing is a well-established industry in the international circuit, with designers receiving formal training and even a degree in this particular field of art.
Costume designers play a significant part in creating a role in a movie, as it is their depiction that helps the actor relate with the character and performance. However, Pakistanis have yet to explore this subject area in depth. While many designers including Sania Maskatiya have ventured into character styling on television soaps, none have really taken it up as a serious profession.
On the other hand, accountant-turned-designer Munib Nawaz recently took a risk, and stepped into designing costumes for some of the party scenes in the much-hyped Lollywood film, Main Hoon Shahid Afridi. “Munib is affordable, professional and actually enjoys working on such projects,” says actor and producer of the film, Humayun Saeed. “He knows what looks good on screen and is always available to help whenever you call him. It’s so easy to work with someone like him.”
However, for Nawaz, who recently created quite a stir with his controversial Karachi Fashion Week collection, wardrobe designing isn’t a first-time experience. Rather, it was almost eight years ago when he designed singer Sajjad Ali’s wardrobe for his music video, Ek Gham Ke Siwa. “I wanted to completely re-do his look and since the song was sombre, I gave him a sober look that complemented the tone of the song,” says Nawaz. “From there on, it really took off. I feel that our talent is this country’s greatest asset and therefore, it desperately needs to be promoted.”
After working with Sajjad Ali, Nawaz went on to give singer Rahim Shah a Ricky Martin-styled, fancy boy look for his video Tere Ishq Ne. Now, Nawaz has almost 114 music videos under his belt and has worked with most of the known video directors in the country. Music video director Sohail Javed, reveals that out of 400 of his videos, Nawaz has done the wardrobe for at least 100. He feels that Nawaz is not only a thorough professional but also has his own unique flavour in clothes. “I love the fact that we disagree and argue over things because that is what allows creativity to come out and opens up room for improvement,” says Javed. “He listens and does a lot of research on what the character requires.”
In order to understand the essence of a character better, a costume designer needs to figure out where the character is acting as the protagonist and where, as an antagonist and then balance out the colours accordingly. “There are various different shades of every colour that can depict antagonist and protagonist characters,” asserts Nawaz. “There are almost 60 different shades of grey – certain emit positivity and others, have negative connotations. While lighter shades are for protagonists, charcoal greys going towards black are considered antagonist.”
Recently, Nawaz has designed the entire wardrobe for upcoming Shaan-starrer, Waar. “I took charge of the production design and created the overall look for each character,” he says, adding that he had a great experience working for the film.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2013.
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